Assessing a Child’s Experience of Multiple Maltreatment Types: Some Unfinished Business (original) (raw)
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Describing maltreatment: do child protective service reports and research definitions agree?
Child Abuse & Neglect, 2005
Objective: The National Research Council identified inadequate research definitions for abuse and neglect as barriers to research in child maltreatment. We examine the concordance between child protective services (CPS) classifications of maltreatment type with the determinations of type from two research coding systems. We contrast the two coding systems and the CPS classification, in their ability to predict subsequent difficulties in the psychological functioning of maltreated children at age 8. Method: The sample included 545 children who were enrolled in Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) with a report of child maltreatment, had data collected at approximately 4 and 8 years of age, and had a lifetime review of CPS records to age 8. CPS Maltreatment reports were coded using LONGSCAN's modification ଝ et al. / Child Abuse & Neglect 29 (2005) [461][462][463][464][465][466][467][468][469][470][471][472][473][474][475][476][477] of the Maltreatment Classification System (MMCS) and the Second National Incidence Study maltreatment coding system (NIS-2). The first analyses used reports as the unit of analysis to examine agreement between CPS and research determinations of allegation type. Validation analyses examined outcomes for each type of maltreatment experienced after age 4 under each coding system using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Trauma Symptom Checklist-Alternative form, and the Vineland Screener as the measures of outcome. Control variables were the CBCL and Battelle Developmental Screener, measured at age 4. Results: There were a total of 1980 reports of maltreatment for 545 study children although only 1593 CPS reports specified at least one type of maltreatment. There were differences between the type of maltreatment recorded in child protective service records and the conclusions reached by either research classification system. CPS classifications were most discordant with the research systems for emotional abuse and neglect. Nearly 10% of physical and sexual abuse reports, as determined by the MMCS, were classified as neglect by the child protective service agencies. The NIS-2 system and the MMCS had very high Kappa statistics for agreement for physical and sexual abuse. The validity of the research definitions for physical and sexual abuse was demonstrated in models predicting children's functioning at age 8. Prediction of child functioning was significantly but modestly improved in several domains compared to the CPS classifications. Conclusion: Both research classification systems moderately improved on the prediction of the adverse effects of maltreatment compared to the characterization of a maltreatment exposure as recorded by CPS.
Measuring the severity of child maltreatment
Child Abuse & Neglect, 2005
Objective: The purpose was to identify different operational definitions of maltreatment severity, and then to examine their predictive validity. Method: Children and their primary caregivers participating in a consortium of ongoing longitudinal studies were interviewed when they were approximately 4 and 8 years of age to assess behavior problems, and developmental and psychological functioning. Four different severity definitions were identified and applied to 519 children who were reported for alleged maltreatment between Birth and the Age 8 interview. A taxonomy for defining maltreatment characteristics was applied to Child Protective Service records to define severity as (a) Maximum Severity within each of five maltreatment types, (b) Overall Maximum Severity across the five types, (c) Total Severity or the sum of the maximum severity for each of five types, and (d) Mean Severity or the average severity for those types of maltreatment alleged, during each of two time periods-Birth to Age 4, and Age 4 to Age 8. Results: Regression analyses that controlled for socio-demographic factors, early maltreatment (Birth to Age 4), prior functioning (Age 4), and site revealed that (a) all four severity definitions for maltreatment reports between ଝ Age 4 and Age 8 predicted Age 8 behavior problems, (b) Maximum Severity by Type and Mean Severity predicted adaptive functioning at Age 8, and (c) only Maximum Severity by Type was related to anger, at Age 8. Followup regression analyses indicated that only Maximum Severity by Type, specifically physical abuse, accounted for outcomes, beyond maltreatment occurrence versus non-occurrence.
What's in a name? A comparison of methods for classifying predominant type of maltreatment
Child Abuse & Neglect, 2005
The primary aim of the study was to identify a classification scheme, for determining the predominant type of maltreatment in a child's history that best predicts differences in developmental outcomes. Method: Three different predominant type classification schemes were examined in a sample of 519 children with a history of alleged maltreatment. Cases were classified into predominant maltreatment types according to three different schemes:
PsycEXTRA Dataset
One of the most recent major shifts in the focus of child maltreatment research has been recognition of the interrelatedness of childhood victimisation experiences. Two main frameworks have been developed to better understand and measure this interrelatedness: multi-type maltreatment and polyvictimisation. Alongside this shift, has been the growing recognition in the fields of traumatology and psychiatry that traditional mental health diagnoses often do not adequately capture the effects of chronic and/or multiple types of victimisation. Complex trauma and cumulative harm are both popular models that account for complexity in traumatic outcomes. Researchers investigating the consequences of a specific form of victimisation should account for the effects of other victimisation experiences, as well as for the effects of cumulative experiences. Practice and policy responses to children who experience single maltreatment events should be different to those for children who experience multiple maltreatment events. Survivors of multiple maltreatment events are more likely to experience complex trauma and the negative effects of cumulative harm, both of which require more comprehensive intervention and treatment.
Single versus Multi-Type Maltreatment
Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 2005
The purpose of the present study was to identify the long-term impacts of different types of child abuse and to assess differential effects of single versus multi-type maltreatment. Three hundred and eighty-four college students completed measures of child abuse history (neglect, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse), depression, Catalina M. Arata, PhD, is Clinical Psychologist in private practice, Mobile, AL. Her research has focused on the long-term effects of child sexual abuse, as well as studying Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among different populations.
Current research on child maltreatment: Implications for educators
1999
The increasing rate of child abuse and neglect is a special concern for educators who are legally mandated reporters of suspected maltreatment, are often the first to identify and refer children who have been harmed, are in contact with parents and are aware of the family conditions contributing to child maltreatment, and who must often work closely with other professionals in their efforts to support child victims and prevent further abuse. Moreover, children's emotional or behavioral problems, learning disabilities, or other difficulties often reflect broader problems that are associated with abuse or neglect. Consequently, understanding the causes and consequences of child maltreatment, and contemporary child protection efforts, is essential to educators in their efforts to assist victimized children. This article surveys current research on child maltreatment with particular attention to the challenges of child protection, the multidimensionality of child maltreatment (distinguishing physical abuse, physical neglect, sexual abuse, and psychological maltreatment), and hopeful new avenues for prevention. The implications of this research for educational professionals are emphasized.
Physical and psychological maltreatment: Relations among types of maltreatment
Child Abuse & Neglect, 1991
Although maltreatment is known to have detrimental effects on social-emotional development, the relation of those effects to type of maltreatment and child age is not clear. Most studies either focus solely on abuse or do not differentiate among types of maltreatment. Further, most concentrate on young children. Studies of psychological maltreatment in young children indicate that physical abuse and psychological maltreatment tend to co-occur, severity of injury is not related to severity of psychological maltreatment or to developmental problems, and severity of psychological maltreatment is related to developmental outcomes. The present study investigated 1) relations among types of physical and psychological maltreatment and 2) their effect on development in an ethnically diverse sample of maltreated school-aged children and adolescents. The results indicated that, as in young children, physical and psychological maltreatment co-occurred in most cases. Severity of emotional abuse was related to severity of physical neglect in school-aged children and severity of physical injury to severity of physical abuse in adolescents. Severity of emotional abuse was related to both behavior problems and depression. The differences between the patterns of effects for school-aged children and those for adolescents are discussed as are implications of the findings for intervention.